Cruise Report: 2022-08-29 : 09-01

Pot survey

Author

Mike O’Brien (UMCES)

Participants

  • Dave Secor (UMCES)
  • Mike O’Brien (UMCES)
  • Capt. Brendan Harrington (F/V Integrity)
  • Reilly (F/V Integrity, mate)
  • Will (F/V Integrity, mate)

Pot deployment cruise, 2022-08-30

Overall

  • 04:00 Meet at F/V Integrity, prepare for departure.
  • 04:15 Depart dock, transit to C2209-2 (randomly-selected control site).
  • 06:26 Arrive at C2209-2.
    • 06:28 Begin deploying pots.
    • 06:36 Finish deploying pots, transit to C2209-1 (randomly-selected control site).
  • 07:30 Arrive at C2209-1.
    • 07:32 Begin deploying pots.
    • 07:35 Finish deploying pots, transit to O12 (experimental turbine site).
  • 07:56 Arrive at O12.
    • 07:58 Begin deploying pots.
    • 08:01 Finish deploying pots, transit to J11 (experimental turbine site).
  • 08:30 Arrive at J11.
    • 08:31 Begin deploying pots.
    • 08:35 Finish deploying pots, transit to K10 (experimental turbine site).
  • 08:44 Arrive at K10.
    • 08:45 Begin deploying pots.
    • 08:48 Finish deploying pots, transit to K7 (experimental turbine site).
  • 09:10 Arrive at K7.
    • 09:11 Begin deploying pots.
    • 09:45 Finish deploying pots, transit to fish for mahi-mahi near Metocean buoy.
  • 10:00 End fishing, return to West Ocean City, MD.
  • 12:05 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD.

Description

Survey deployment

Capt. Brendan Harrington and mates Reilly and Will stacked the pots on the boat from 13:30 - 17:00 on 29 August. Ground line between pots was coiled and placed into the next pot in the sequence.

Wind speed was near 0 knots. Waves were 1-2 ft, falling to 0-1 ft. Cloud cover was 40-50% of the sky. Control sites ranged in depth from 75-130 ft, with turbine sites ranging from 88-98 ft.

So that we may better understand the distance between deployed pots, we recorded the location of individual pots for several rigs.

C2209-2 began with at least one potless snood, and one pot in the stack was not connected to a snood. Capt. Harrington recovered the rig from the first block to the first available snood, attached the pot, and re-deployed.

After deployment of the last site, K07, there was one remaining pot. Mate Reilly did not recall seeing any empty snoods.

Pot recovery cruise, 2022-08-31

Overall

  • 04:00 Meet at F/V Integrity, await arrival of captain.
  • 04:30 Depart dock, transit to C2209-2.
  • 06:27 Arrive at C2209-2.
    • 06:29 Northern trawl anchor (“block”) recovered.
    • 06:38 Southern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to C2209-1.
  • 07:35 Arrive C2209-1. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 07:38 Southern block recovered.
    • 07:48 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to O12.
  • 08:19 Arrive O12. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 08:21 Southern block recovered.
    • 08:29 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to J11.
  • 09:01 Arrive J11. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 09:04 Southern block recovered.
    • 09:14 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to K10.
  • 09:31 Arrive K10. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 09:32 Southern block recovered.
    • 09:41 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to K07.
  • 10:06 Arrive K07. Begin pot recovery approach.
    • 10:08 Southern block recovered.
    • 10:18 Northern block recovered; pot recovery complete. Transit to fish for mahi-mahi near Metocean buoy.
  • 11:00 End fishing, return to West Ocean City, MD.
  • 13:00 Arrive in West Ocean City, MD.

Description

Wind speed was 10-20 knots, coming from the NNW (as reported by Capt. Harrington). Waves were 2-3 feet. Cloud cover was 20% of the sky.

Pots were recovered in the same manner as in previous cruises:

M. O’Brien pulled pots onboard with the assistance of Capt. B. Harrington, reporting catch per species, per pot to D. Secor. Fish from the first 6 pots were placed in the “near” tote with fish from the subsequent 9 pots placed in the “far” tote. Due to how the pot strings were recovered, the “near” pots were the southernmost pots, and the “far” pots the northernmost in all but station C2209-2.

Station C2209-2 had pots in the 1-12 and 15th position, with 13 and 14 being open; this was due to the extra pot and late tie-in noted above.

Dominant species were black sea bass (33) and Atlantic rock crab (42), with mud crabs, sea stars, and one sand dollar also present. 17 of the 88 recovered pots were empty. There was no significant difference in black sea bass catch between near and far sections of the lines or control and turbine sites (\(\chi\)-squared, \(p >\) 0.05).

Total length (mm) and weight (g) of all black sea bass were recorded, culling the first five from each “near” and “far” section and releasing the others. Total lengths of other fish species were also recorded. Black sea bass ranged in total length from 187 - 365 mm, with a mean of 238 mm (minimum legal size 320 mm). Weights ranged from 80 - 550 g, mean of 230 g.

There were no significant differences in length or weight between near and far or control and turbine sites (ANOVA, \(p >\) 0.05).

Catch and size data summaries are shown in the sample summary section below.

Station information

datetime depth wind_speed wind_dir wave_height cloud_cover_10th lon_start lat_start lon_end lat_end notes old_station
deploy
C2209-2 2022-08-30 06:36:58 75 0.0 NA 1-2 5.0 −74.77750 38.20935 −74.77569 38.21138 Last pot not attached, so circled around and attached it to the empty first slot. MOB forgot to record track NA
C2209-1 2022-08-30 07:32:53 130 0.0 NA 1-2 5.0 −74.63289 38.22439 −74.63289 38.22619 MOB forgot to record track NA
O12 2022-08-30 07:58:09 97 0.0 NA 0-1 4.0 −74.65114 38.26873 −74.65211 38.27078 MOB forgot to record track NA
J11 2022-08-30 08:31:15 94 0.0 NA 0-1 4.0 −74.72969 38.28583 −74.72815 38.28782 NA NA
K10 2022-08-30 08:45:58 88 0.0 NA 0-1 4.0 −74.71112 38.30230 −74.70967 38.30475 NA NA
K7 2022-08-30 09:11:03 98 0.0 NA 0-1 5.0 −74.70313 38.35198 −74.70188 38.35386 Wound up with 1 extra pot. Check snoods -- C2209-2 may only have 13? NA
recover
C2209-2 2022-08-31 06:29:25 NA 10-15 NWW 1-2 2.0 −74.77734 38.20907 −74.77606 38.21104 Only 13 pots; GPS marked pots 1, 6, 13 NA
C2209-1 2022-08-31 07:48:06 NA 15-20 NWW 2-3 2.0 −74.63311 38.22434 −74.63333 38.22521 NA NA
O12 2022-08-31 08:29:29 NA NA NA NA NA −74.65128 38.26884 −74.65259 38.27017 Misc data not recorded NA
J11 2022-08-31 09:14:57 NA NA NA NA NA −74.72968 38.28603 −74.72910 38.28721 Misc data not recorded NA
K10 2022-08-31 09:41:05 NA NA NA NA NA −74.71128 38.30252 −74.71040 38.30460 Misc data not recorded NA
K7 2022-08-31 10:18:01 NA NA NA NA NA −74.70295 38.35225 −74.70234 38.35375 Misc data not recorded NA

Cruise map

Sample summary

Catch

Black sea bass catch
N min average max sd retained
June - Control
far 18 1 1.4 2 0.51 17
near 10 1 2.5 5 1.73 10
Total 28
June - Project
far 6 1 1.2 2 0.45 6
near 5 1 1.2 2 0.50 5
Total 11
July - Control
far 18 1 3.0 6 2.00 8
near 11 1 1.6 3 0.98 6
Total 29
July - Project
far 13 1 1.2 3 0.60 12
near 4 1 1.0 1 0.00 3
Total 17
August - Control
far 83 1 5.9 14 5.05 10
near 58 2 8.3 18 6.52 8
Total 141
August - Project
far 14 1 1.4 3 0.70 11
near 13 1 1.6 4 1.06 11
Total 27
September - Control
far 29 1 4.1 21 7.45 10
near 13 1 2.2 7 2.40 8
Total 42
September - Project
far 22 1 1.8 5 1.34 13
near 22 1 2.8 8 2.55 10
Total 44

“September” 2022 catch

The blank bars on the right show the count of pots with no catch.

Fish measurements

Total length (mm)

Weight (g)

Sex